Reality Check
by lovewinter
Summary: You hadn't thought a visit could solve everything, had you? Sequel of "Close Behind", the morning after. Cath/Sara friendship, GSR
1. Chapter 1

Title: Reality Check  
Rating: K+  
Pairing: Catherine/Sara friendship, GSR  
Summary: just a visit couldn't solve everything, could it? *evil*

**A/N**: here it is, this is the sequel of "Close Behind". You won't understand much without reading it first. Huge thanks to Sharon and Diane, my awesome betas.  
As always, I'm just borrowing the characters and have a little fun with them. They will be handed back at the end of the fic, I promise. :)

* * *

_**Reality Check**_

_Chapter One_

Sara was sitting in her car wondering what happened exactly. She could get the big picture, but if she just tried to sort out her internal turmoil, she felt as if her brain was shutting down. She didn't know if she had felt-and still was feeling-more angry or defeated or even betrayed. Maybe a mix of all three. Everything was fine. The night with Catherine had gone well. Yeah, sure, she had revealed a bit more than she had thought she would, but it was nothing that Catherine could have understood by herself if she had tried enough. She had gone back home and was pleasantly surprised by Gil. He was at home. As she had seen him in the doorway, it was like an imaginary burden was suddenly lifted from her chest…

…_she hugged her husband tightly. A warm sensation invaded her as she felt his hard chest against her. It was clear that Grissom was taken aback by her unusual display of emotions. _

"_Hey, Dear. Let's close the door," he said as he led her away from the doorway. She kissed him eagerly, making it difficult for him to move._

"_How was your dinner with Catherine?" Gil asked as he gently kissed her forehead and led them to the couch._

"_Fine. How do you know I was with Catherine? We didn't talk today," she asked, lifting her eyes to look at his face._

"_She told me you were on your way home," Grissom said as he caressed her and tucked a rebel dark curl behind her ear. _

"_Did she? Why?" she asked, curious as her look followed him sitting beside her._

"_Because she knew I was waiting for you here. I texted her when I landed. I wanted to surprise you." Gil looked at her as if trying to read what really was on her mind. It was a weird sensation, but she soon shrugged it off, eager to savor every moment of Gil's closeness._

"_How sweet!" Sara said, leaning against his shoulder and snuggling close to him. "Why are you here so soon? Not that I don't love it, but everything is alright, isn't it?"_

"_Sure, don't worry." _

"_Did you miss me?" she asked as she turned again to look at him._

"_Always." And they kissed again..._

They had gone to bed and had made love. She had so needed it. She had never thought she would miss so much being intimate with a man and all the little things that a couple shared every day. Anyway, Gil had woken up earlier than she that morning, and when she had opened her eyes, she was alone in their bed. She had taken a quick shower and had gone to look for her husband. She had found him working on the computer. Looking over his shoulders, she had realized he had been looking for a flight back to Lima and was booking one for the next morning…

…"_Do you have to go back already?" she__ asked with a mix of surprise and regret__._

"_Yes. Sorry, but I left in the middle of an experiment."_

"_Really? I can't believe it! Did you miss me so much you left all your pets unsupervised?" she said as she hugged his shoulders from behind. She was pleasantly surprised. A warm feeling of happiness invaded her at the thought of what her husband had done for her. _

"_They are in good hands, don't worry," he said as he sent the boarding pass to the printer and closed the web page. Then he managed to turn Sara around the chair until she could sit on his lap._

"_So, why the hurry?" she asked._

"_It just wasn't planned. You know, our drama queen scared me to death."_

"_Sorry? Drama queen? I lost you." She was totally confused._

"_I should know better after all these years. Catherine likes to exaggerate things."_

"_Catherine?" Sara suddenly disentangled from Gil's embrace and looked directly at him. "Did Catherine tell you to come back?"…_

Unbelievable. Just thinking of it made the sensation return. She had felt anger mixed up with something she couldn't even define erupt from her core and spread through her body. She had dressed and gone out without even having coffee. She had gotten in her car and driven off, leaving a stunned Grissom behind. She still had to switch her phone on, but she was sure he had tried it several times.

She was now driving around without knowing exactly where to go. Suddenly she made up her mind. She took a quick look at her watch. She stopped in front of a coffee shop. A few minutes later she was on the road toward Southern Highland with two hot coffees and a paper bag with donuts inside.

She stopped in the driveway she had left a few hours before. She took the cups and the donuts and got out of the car. She didn't hesitate as she had done 24 hours before. She walked straight to the door and rang the bell.

"Sara?" A very surprised Catherine opened the door.

"Can I come in? I brought breakfast," Sara asked.

"Sure, get in," Catherine said as she slid off her reading glasses and took a moment to assess her friend's behavior.

Sara was already halfway to the kitchen. Catherine closed the door and hurried behind her friend. She gestured to the chairs and said, "I was brewing coffee. Please take a seat."

"I needed to talk to someone," Sara stated as she stopped for the first time to look at her surrounding since she decided to visit Catherine. She realized that she had interrupted the woman's morning routine. Catherine was dressed in a running suit, clearly ready to start her day: laundry, chores, house cleaning. A newspaper was spread open on the table beside a neat pile of letters already opened. She felt a hint of guilt for imposing on her, but she quickly sloughed it off. Catherine was responsible for the situation too.

"Sure," Catherine said, trying to conceal her curiosity. Sara's sudden appearance intrigued her. She reached for the paper and folded it, leaving most of the table free to let her friend drop her load.

"I should be angry with you now, and maybe partly I am… I'm not sure if it makes sense, but I realized I had to come here."

"Okay. What happened?" Catherine tentatively asked. She felt like walking on a mine field-the wrong word and everything would blow up. Sara could be unpredictable sometimes.

"That's the problem. Nothing happened. You know Gil is in town. And what's more important, you're the reason he is here."

"I'm not sure I understand…," Catherine replied as her brain was trying to connect the dots.

"You called him," Sara stated.

"Yeah," Catherine firmly replied, her tone implying a warning. There was a challenge to continue in that single word. Was Sara upset because she had called Grissom? Was she angry with her? Sara's behavior was weird. Catherine couldn't read her. She seemed lost but at the same time defiant somehow.

"Coffee?" Sara eventually asked as she handed Catherine one of the warm cups. "There's no sugar." She needed to regroup. Catherine wasn't the type to passively wait to be attacked, even if it was just because of an outlet.

"Okay, thanks," Catherine said, allowing Sara the time to cool down. She took the sugar from the cupboard and dropped it on the table. She took two teaspoons from the top drawer and handed one to Sara. Then she laid a dish on the table near the paper bag.

Sara, taking the hint, took care of the donuts and then slid the plate to Catherine.

The older woman didn't know what to do. That was a first. Sara coming uninvited to her house before eight in the morning and with Gil in town. She had brought breakfast and now they were having donuts and coffee in silence.

This time Catherine knew that Sara had to take the lead. Her friend came to her, now she had to wait for Sara's next move.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N**: I apologize, Sara and Grissom can be a bit out of character, but I can't image them being otherwise as a couple.

**Reality Check**

_Chapter Two _

As Sara sipped her coffee she felt Catherine's gaze on her, studying carefully every single movement. The anger she had felt before was fading away, leaving her with a feeling of loneliness and failure. _Was really anger what had brought her there?_ She had just wanted to go out, as Grissom's presence was too much to bear. Then something had snapped inside her. Confusion, discomfort, anger, sense of betrayal mixed together. Catherine had been an easy target. That woman in front of her had always had a real talent to get under her skin. Now, sitting at Catherine's table, the feeling that, maybe, something deeper than just anger had led her there, was taking place. It was comforting and disturbing at the same time.

"I'm amazed, you know." Sara's voice suddenly broke the awkward silence that had fallen between the two women. "One breakfast and one dinner and you broke through 10 years of guards and safeties."

Catherine didn't miss noticing there was something more beyond Sara's somewhat provocative words. She just wasn't sure if Sara's words hid a compliment or if she was just plainly mocking her.

"I was driving around and suddenly I knew I had to come here-to you. For the first time I think I understand why the guys have always relied on you," Sara said as she looked at Catherine. She wasn't sure that admitting it now would help clear her mind, but if she was going to ask for help, she could at least be honest. She passed a hand through her hair and continued, "There was a time I was madly jealous of your relationship with Warrick, Nick, and even Grissom. But maybe I was jealous of their relationships with you instead. Anyway, this is not the time to go _all deep_ on that."

Catherine didn't know how to react or what to say to Sara's revelation. She knew Sara had a point, but true to herself, she wasn't even near to see it. Obviously something happened with Gil, and Sara believed her somehow responsible for it. Should she ask for an explanation? She looked at the younger woman, trying to read her.

"Sara, why are you here?" Catherine finally asked. Acting cautiously hadn't helped her, so getting directly to the point seemed the best way.

"Gil is leaving tomorrow morning. You're just a _drama queen_, Catherine," Sara said with a smirk.

Catherine's eyes widened. What had happened was suddenly clear. She realized the situation hadn't gone as she had thought. Things had probably worsened, if possible. _Grissom was thicker than wood. _

"You probably think I should mind my own business, but I thought I could shake some sense into him. I didn't tell him anything you said to me. I just thought you two needed a little push…and at least to be in the same country," Catherine explained as she tried to read Sara. Catherine didn't feel that she had to justify her actions. She had just tried to help her friends.  
"Are you angry with me?" Catherine finally asked. Things had to be clear between them.

"I was, before coming here. I felt like you made fun of me. Now I'm not sure anymore. Not that I like people interfering in my private life, but I think I somehow _invited_ you into it yesterday. I think getting old makes me less impulsive, or at least lets me think clearly again."

They shared a smile.

"Not sure if it can apply to anyone…," Catherine said, admitting maybe her most evident flaw.

Sara smiled warmly. Having Catherine talking to her so openly was something new and, surprisingly, reassuring.  
"I'm _more_ angry with Gil and with myself. I don't know if he is in denial of if he really is okay with our situation," Sara said with resignation.

"I doubt he realizes there is something wrong. I bet your time together is just perfect. And when you talk, you don't really tell him how you feel, do you? Men, and Gil is no exception, can't read minds. Gil is often oblivious of what happens around him; go figure if it's happening several thousand miles away."

"Am I asking for something he won't ever be able to give me?" Sara's hopeless voice sounded foreign even to herself. She felt like a whining child.

"Oh, Sara, no, don't go down that route. Think of what is working," Catherine said, trying to sound as comforting as she could. Sara hadn't ever looked so vulnerable to her.

"Is anything working?"

"Don't be an ass now. You love each other," Catherine stated with a confidence Sara didn't feel at all.

"But can love be enough? Anyway, he doesn't act as if he loves me."

"You're not thinking straight. You say things you don't really feel. He came here as soon as I told him you needed him. I think you and he have just a communication problem," Catherine said. She had always feared _communication_ would have been their main problem.

"Yeah, phone lines can be a bitch…"

"Dry humor, eh? I like it." Catherine couldn't help a smile.

"He doesn't even listen to me. He's always lost in his research. If I didn't go to him, I'm not sure he would ever come here. He couldn't leave his studies."

"Okay, he's self-absorbed. Where's the news?"

"I'm his wife! I'm not someone he's working with. We should share our lives."

"Have you ever told him so?" Catherine asked as she looked at Sara with a warm and knowing smile. "You once talked about the great sex you have. Look, if it's not _phone sex_ you're looking for, I suggest you talk to him. He won't make any moves to change things. His next gig could be in China or Australia," Catherine stated and then, trying to lighten the mood, she added, "Let's face it, the man love his bugs. I think they turn him on."

Sara couldn't help a small smile. She thought that more that once too.

"He has lived alone for years in his hermetically sealed condo, sorry, townhouse," Catherine quickly corrected herself seeing Sara ready to intervene. She was going to correct her as Grissom had done a few years before. She mentally smiled at the idea of how much Grissom and Sara were similar. _Both of them were obsessed by pointless details._ "You can't say that your relationship has been an easy one, can you? Gil isn't an easy man. After years spent with just a rollercoaster as a way out from our job, he did something huge for you. But you can't believe that then everything would be '_happy ever after'_," Catherine said without sugar-coating reality.

"So what? Should I settle for what I have?" Sara asked.

"Never. Or you'll regret it later."

"What should I do?"

"I hope you're not looking for an answer from me. I can only tell you that having doubts is only human. Are your moments together satisfying enough? If the answer is yes, you have to fight tooth and nail to keep what you have and nurture it, waiting for a better time when you will be able to eventually be together. It's hard work, but only you can say if it's worth the effort and the occasional feeling of loneliness. If the answer is no, cut him loose. You'll suffer, but in the end it will be better for both of you," Catherine said, fixing her eyes on the other woman. She had been tough maybe, but Sara wasn't a child. She didn't need a hug and a pat on her shoulder. Things were not easy and could just get worse. Sara had to clear her mind and make a decision. Gil would never do anything to change things.

"I have a few errands to do but then we could have lunch together," Catherine eventually said, breaking the silence, as she stood up from the chair.

"I don't want to bother you," Sara said.

"Don't worry, I like some company. Stay here. It won't take more than an hour, probably less. Take your time to think, take a nap, read a book, watch television, go for a walk, whatever. .."

"But…"

"No _but_, or I'll leave you a list of chores to keep you entertained. You could also start thinking about lunch," Catherine said before disappearing in the corridor.

A few minutes later she was back, changed in jeans, shirt and a casual jacket.

"Take a look in the fridge and text me if you want or need something. I'll get it on the way home. Here are the keys if you go out. Please, do as you would at home. See you in a few." Catherine said as she left Sara in the middle of the hall and closed the door behind her.

As soon as Catherine made it to her car, she pulled off the cell phone from her purse. She scrolled down the names on her contacts list and selected Grissom's name.

He picked up as soon as the first ring went off. _"Hello?"_

"It's Catherine. Hi, Gil. I'll be quick. I've no idea what you did, but your wife knocked on my door before 8 this morning. We're having lunch at my place. I suggest you come by early in the afternoon. You two need to talk to each other. Badly."

"_What happened? What did she tell you?"_

"I'm a _drama queen_, Gil, and I really should mind my own business," Catherine said bitterly.

"_Sorry."_

"It's okay. She's upset, Gil. I've already told you enough. You two have to find a way to fix things on your own."

"_But I'm doing my best…"_

"It's not enough. Take these few hours to think. Ask yourself when was the last time you and Sara really talked. I bet you never fight. A marriage has to be _fed_ if you want it to work. A few days spent together here and there are not enough, even if they are passionate and romantic. You're not having an affair, you're married. See you later," Catherine said as she closed the phone call and drove off.

Catherine's doubts on Grissom and Sara's relationship had sadly turned right. Grissom was bound to close up again once left alone and Sara…, she had gotten better with time, but Catherine feared relationships were still something new and somehow scary for her.


End file.
